Lawrence Cohen KC

Company law

The economic climate has brought company capital structures into focus both domestically and offshore. In addition to the plentiful issues encountered with offshore funds, this year has seen Lawrence at work on the re-organisation of the ownership structure and re-domiciling of a well-reputed bank from one Caribbean jurisdiction   to another. Accounting issues dealing with impairment provisioning and recognition of revenue are recurring questions.

Lawrence has worked on:

• L v L QBD – taking evidence in aid of proceedings in Texas concerning the valuation of very high-value redeemable preference shares in a multinational oil trading company. This unique type of share in Dutch and Luxembourg companies had characteristics aligning them to bonds for valuation purposes.
• Re a Company – Grand Court of Cayman Islands – members’ winding-up petition on the just and equitable ground in a hedge fund which had suspended redemptions and altered its articles with retrospective effect.

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Banking and financial services

Lawrence has in-depth experience in several parts of the financial services sector. The operation of mutual funds, such as hedge funds and venture capital funds in Cayman and BVI with management in London and New York, are familiar territory as is the operation of banks.

In fund work, liquidity issues and consequent strategies of gating (suspension of redemptions), distributions in kind, side-pocketing and restructuring have all been active topics as have managers, administrators and other professionals’ liability. In other institutions such as banks, examining disastrous investments and devising recovery strategies as well as dealing with the implications on balance sheet strength and liquidity all continue to feature. Lawrence has published articles in both The Times (Business News) and The Financial Times dealing with topics such as unsatisfactory hedge fund valuation practices (e.g. mark to model rather than to market).

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Insolvency

Lawrence Cohen KC has over his years in silk dealt with some spectacular insolvencies which have included BCCI and Maxwell and advising MG Rover in connection with transactions aimed at rescuing their business.

With the exceptions of the well known SphinX funds collapse in Cayman in the wake of the Refco fraud and advising the provisional liquidators in the BVI case allegedly concerning state assets of the Congo, few of the high-profile matters being dealt with can be discussed.

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Trusts, probate and estates: contentious

The special type of private client work fits perfectly into the wider offshore and business practice of this highly experienced and mature silk. He undertakes only a small number   of cases each year. All are very high value (often measured in billions rather than millions), complex and require intensive work, sometimes over prolonged periods. Over recent years, he has been instructed by family offices and a small number of very large trusts in connection with their structures and operations.

Three points differentiate Lawrence’s practice: (1) almost all trust cases are offshore or international in character rather than domestic, (2) clients are usually the super rich or their family offices or equivalent, (3) he often works on non-contentious issues.

Where litigation is involved, it is often in one of the Caribbean offshore jurisdictions such as Cayman or the Bahamas, where he has appeared in court on literally hundreds of occasions. To thrive in this highly competitive arena of world class players is itself probably the greatest testimony to his standing in this market.

He has a charming but penetrating style that always cuts right through to the heart of the issues. His advocacy is simple, clear and compelling.  Perhaps unusually amongst his competitors in this area is his ability to conduct effective but short cross-examinations of difficult witnesses.

Where litigation is involved, it is often in one of the Caribbean offshore jurisdictions such as Cayman or the Bahamas, where he has appeared in court on literally hundreds of occasions. To thrive in this highly competitive arena of world class players is itself probably the greatest testimony to his standing in this market.

He has a charming but penetrating style that always cuts right through to the heart of the issues. His advocacy is simple, clear and compelling.  Perhaps unusually amongst his competitors in this area is his ability to conduct effective but short cross-examinations of difficult witnesses.

Download Trusts, probate and estates: contentious CV